SEC v. Integrated National Resources, Inc. (WeedGenics), Rolf Max Hirschmann and Patrick Earl Williams (ponzi schemes, 2023)

Judgment entered

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In May 2023 the SEC charged WeedGenics (Integrated National Resources), Max Hirschmann and Patrick Williams over a cannabis offering that raised more than $60 million. Final judgments entered in August and September 2025 order Hirschmann and Williams to pay combined disgorgement of $27,450,281, interest of $10,100,976.65 and penalties of $17,831,616.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

$17.8m

Disgorgement

$27.5m

Prejudgment interest

$10.1m

Total relief

$55.4m

Alleged gain

—

A dash means the release did not state a figure we could extract, not that the figure is zero. Penalty and disgorgement are stored separately so aggregates across the library do not double-count the same dollars.

What is alleged to have happened

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced this matter on May 23, 2023 as release LR-25733. The SEC obtained a restraining order, asset freeze and temporary receiver and alleged that the company, trading as WeedGenics, raised more than $60 million for cannabis facilities that did not exist and used $16.2 million to make Ponzi-like payments.

This library tags the matter as a Ponzi scheme because the document describes returns to earlier investors paid from later investors' money, as alleged or found. The tagging is ours, not the regulator's: agencies charge statutory provisions, not technique names.

Outcome: I opened two court judgments posted by the SEC. The Central District of California entered a final judgment against Patrick Earl Williams on August 18, 2025, ordering disgorgement of $6,999,808, prejudgment interest of $2,575,744, jointly and severally with two relief defendants, and a civil penalty of $6,999,808, and prohibiting him from acting as an officer or director of a public company. It entered an amended final judgment against Rolf Max Hirschmann on September 5, 2025, ordering disgorgement of $20,450,473, interest of $7,525,232.65, jointly and severally with four relief defendants, and a civil penalty of $10,831,808 (a total of $38,807,513.65), with a similar officer-and-director prohibition. The recorded figures add these two men's amounts. The documents I read do not say whether the judgments were by consent or after contest, and I did not check the outcome for the company, Integrated National Resources, or for the relief defendants. An SEC whistleblower notice lists an earlier qualifying judgment or order in the case dated February 11, 2025, which I did not open.

What technique is this, and how does it work?

This action is tagged with one technique in our taxonomy. The tagging is ours: regulators charge statutory provisions, not technique names, so the mapping is an editorial judgement described in our editorial policy.

• Ponzi schemes — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.

Timeline

1. 2023-05-23 Litigation release published
2. 2025-08-18 Final judgment entered as to Patrick Earl Williams (C.D. Cal.)
3. 2025-09-05 Amended final judgment entered as to Rolf Max Hirschmann (C.D. Cal.)

Primary documents

Everything on this page derives from the documents below. Where our summary and the primary document disagree, the primary document is right.

• SEC litigation release
• Final judgment as to Patrick Earl Williams
• Amended final judgment as to Rolf Max Hirschmann

The linked release is a work of the United States government and is not subject to copyright. Our summary and narrative above are our own writing.

Related actions

Other actions in the library sharing at least one technique tag with this one.

Record added September 10, 2026. submit a correction.